


I'm confidently insecure about us now

by crookedspoon



Series: Tentatodd Week 2020 [4]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Nightwing (Comics)
Genre: Angst and Fluff and Smut, Established Relationship, Jealous Jason Todd, M/M, POV Dick Grayson, Tentacles, Tumblr: Tentatodd Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-16
Updated: 2020-04-16
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:40:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23689336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crookedspoon/pseuds/crookedspoon
Summary: "Those bruises," Jason growls and his voice is dipping dangerously low. "They're not from me."
Relationships: Dick Grayson/Jason Todd
Series: Tentatodd Week 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1701706
Comments: 14
Kudos: 228





	I'm confidently insecure about us now

**Author's Note:**

  * For [slifer_the_sky_noodle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/slifer_the_sky_noodle/gifts).



> Written for Day 4 "Mers & Undersea Creatures" at tentatoddweek.
> 
> One WIP down, several hundred more to go. The first 700 words of this are from the beginning of last year. I started them in early Feb for the prompt "Marking/Inkplay" after talks with noodle, but the words just didn't want to come. Another try was in order. Thus concludes my work history and also my run for this week. My well is, unfortunately, dry.

Dick is about to drift off to sleep when a light breeze stirs against him. For a moment, the ambient sounds of the city are growing louder, before the window is drawn shut again. His shoulders tense when there's no tread of boots on the floor that he can hear. His hand instinctively reaches for the escrima stick under his pillow.

A gloved hand on his forearm stops him. It's strong, but gentle. Too gentle to be a threat, but it comes as a bit of a shock anyway. Dick relaxes when a warm, familiar weight drapes itself across his back. The hand on his arm is running down his sides now and over his back. A mouth joins it at his neck, pressing soft below his ear.

This is nice.

Dick moves into every touch, guiding them to where it feels good through a whole array of non-verbal cues. He moans softly when the fingers rub over a particularly sensitive spot and rolls his hips against the heated body.

The hands that's been caressing him so expertly then snakes around his neck and grips it lightly, tilting his face up.

"Is this how you greet any would-be assassin?" Jason asks and nips Dick's earlobe.

"An assassing would've killed me," Dick murmurs sleepily. "Not curled up with me."

"Or do you have other lovers I should be worried about?"

"You're the only lover who counts."

Jason is quiet for a long time and if Dick hadn't been drifting off, he'd have noticed the jealous waves rolling off of Jason sooner. Retracing his last words, Dick realizes they can be misconstrued as implying that he does indeed have other lovers apart from Jason, just that he cares about them less.

Dick groans into his pillow. He's too tired for this.

"Quit it," he says, nudging Jason with his shoulder for emphasis. "I'm beginning to think you were testing me, and I don't like that. There's joking, and there's being stupid."

"Stop giving me reasons then," Jason grouches and smothers Dick a little with his weight, like the world's biggest attention-starved puppy.

 _Something_ about him definitely is attention-starved, and maybe Dick isn't so tired after all.

"I'm not?" he says and grinds back against Jason. The moan he suppresses pleases Dick to no end. "You keep _looking_ for them. I can't even smile at a cashier anymore without you glaring at the poor soul as though they'd left their grandmother in the rain."

His fingers glide over Jason's arm like the ghost of a caress before he dips them beneath his gloves to peel them off. His palm kisses Jason's, their fingers interlace, and Dick uses the opportunity to tug Jason's wrist to his mouth.

"How long have we been together?" he asks, kissing Jason's pulse point. "We survived _Bruce,_ for Christ's sake! Please tell me you know I'm serious about you."

"I can't help it." Jason winds his arms around Dick and buries his face against his neck, breathing him in as though it were the only thing able to soothe him now. "It's just... the thought of you with other people. It makes me mad, okay? The way they look at you. So hungry, like all they want to do is eat you up and not leave a hair."

Sometimes, Dick just can't with Jason. Especially when parts of Jason insist on distracting him.

"You think of me a lot with other people?" Dick teases, rubbing himself against Jason's slowly filling erection. "Would you like to watch?" 

"Dick." His name sticks between Jason's gnashed teeth.

"Sorry, sorry. _I_ can't help _that._ I kind of like the thought of you, you know, watching me."

"Not funny."

"I wasn't kidding," Dick says in his throatiest voice, the one that makes Jason growl with want.

Or perhaps it's annoyance. Hard to tell with him sometimes. But - he decides he's been a tease long enough and switches back to a more consoling voice. He rolls onto his back and cups Jason's face in his hands. Not that they can see much of each other in the dark.

"You needn't concern yourself with how other people look at me. Maybe _I_ should be jealous about how you're paying more attention to other people than to me."

"You're not making it better." Jason grimaces and slips off the bed, out of Dick's reach, flicking on the bedside table lamp as he does so.

Dick groans in protest and pulls the blanket over his light-sensitive eyes. He was halfway to dreamland already. If he gets shined on too much he can kiss getting some sleep goodbye. So he rolls onto his side, his back to the light, and listens to Jason undress.

There's something relaxing about that, even though he can't pinpoint what it is. Maybe it's knowing that Jason trusts him enough to let his guard down around him, or maybe it's having another person around _he_ trusts enough to turn his naked back to. Whatever it is, it's good. He likes falling asleep with Jason. With his size, he makes for an excellent cuddle toy.

Just as Dick is about to drift off to sleep again, waiting for Jason to slip into bed with him, the blanket is rudely ripped from his shoulders.

"What is this?" Jason asks and his fingers trace over Dick's shoulder blades.

"What is what?" Dick asks, rolling onto his back and rubbing his eyes.

"Those bruises," Jason growls and his voice is dipping dangerously low. "They're not from me."

Dick looks down at himself. Oh. He's all but forgotten they're there. They no longer bother him as much as they used to in the beginning. What Jason is referring to are the bands of hickeys that are littering his chest and arms. His legs, too, but they're hidden away beneath the blanket.

"Hold on," Dick says, stretching himself out on the bed. God, he's too tired for this. "Before I answer, tell me this: are you seriously jealous right now?"

Jason's jaw clenches and Dick can see the effort written on his face. The skin of his abdomen rises as though he had a little alien inside, trying to poke through. Same with his arms, and his legs. Fleshy nubs protrude from his skin, wiggling as though trying to reach for Dick, then vanish again as Jason glares harder. 

Dick is instantly breathless. There is nothing that makes him harder faster.

"Are you just going to stand there and stare at me?" he asks, so raw the words come out raspy and broken.

Jason's tentacles _whip_ out of his body and writhe around him like an imposing army of... arms. Dick's cock is pulsing with need. He wants to throw his blankets aside to show Jason, but he's simply too enthralled to move. It's like he can already feel this mass of tentacles curl around his legs like snakes, only a lot bendier, and with sucker cups that to attach to his skin to leave more hickeys behind.

Dick's mouth is dry. He wants it so much right now.

He throws aside the blankets so hastily they tangle in his legs, but it doesn't matter. All he wants is to get his fingers around his throbbing cock and to show Jason how fucking hard he is for him.

One of Jason's tentacle waves forward and winds around Dick's leg as Jason approaches. Dick's leg is quaking in response.

"Fuck me, Jason," Dick gasps. He can't stand it any longer. "I need you inside me."

More of Jason's tentacles curl against Dick's skin as he slides back onto the bed with him. Dick is positively shaking from head to toe by the time Jason has finished his slow crawl up Dick's body until his face is hovering above him.

"You didn't specify which part of me you need inside you," he rumbles against Dick's lips.

Dick is close to sobbing now. Jason's tentacles writhe against almost every part of him, sticking to it here and there, caressing his skin with the tips.

"I don't care, Jason. Please. Your fingers, your cock, your tentacles. Just fuck me. I need you so bad."

Jason exhales slowly. The deep satisfaction Jason exudes is all but palpable. So is the dark intensity of his gaze. Dick feels pinned by it, moreso than by the weight of his extra appendages. Even if Jason were to lift them from him, Dick would be unable to move a muscle as long as Jason's eyes were on him.

A sob does finally escape him when something slick slides between his legs, wiggling in excitement that might come close to Dick's own. Tears are rolling down his cheeks he wants this so much.

"You've gone quiet all of a sudden," Jason remarks. He sounds deeply pleased with himself. "Don't want it anymore?"

"Want it. _Please,_ Jason." Dick is too aroused to speak and he hates Jason for doing this to him, but also not. Of course he doesn't hate Jason. He just wants Jason so much he can hardly stand it and if Jason doesn't soon—

oh.

Dick shoves out a breath, clinging to Jason's shoulders. "Fuck. Yes. Jay."

The tip of Jason's tentacle is moving inside of him, thin like a finger but infinitely more flexible. Dick's legs are trembling even as they're held up comfortably, and a pleasant burning sensation washes through him. Every brush of skin against skin sets off a new wave of shivers, until Dick no longer has the energy to move at all and he surrenders.

Despite the jealousy clouding his heart, Jason is a gentle lover, attentive to all of Dick's need - even if the need is to be taken apart. Jason somehow achieves even such a task with a care that seems inhuman to Dick. Not that Jason has to do much taking; Dick is falling apart on his own.

Afterwards, what feels like hours later, Dick feels wrung dry like a dish rag. Jason is lying beside him and caressing him with the tips of his tentacles.

When Dick's mind has puzzled itself back together enough for him to take in more of his surroundings, he becomes aware that his throbbing skin has become a Pointillist painting made of fresh bruises the size and color of dark grapes. The ones that had incensed Jason earlier are barely noticeable anymore among the competition.

"A squid wrestled me," Dick says faintly. Or maybe he doesn't. He can hardly be sure his voice carries.

Especially when there's no feedback from Jason on the matter.

"Please tell me you're not jealous of marine life that tried to choke me to death." Dick's voice is firmer this time. He could feel the vibrations in his own ears.

At his side, Jason is taking a controlled breath.

"Talk to me," Dick tries again. "What's up?"

"You remember when you first found out about... about my condition?" Jason's tentacles are moving more sedately now, less like overexcited puppy dog tails and more like branches waving in a strong wind.

"You mean your tentacle situation? I mean, how can I not? Best discovery ever."

Jason looks away, and spots of color tinge his cheeks. It will never not warm Dick's heart how laughably easy it is to embarrass Jason. Just appreciate him a little. 

Dick reaches out to play with Jason's hair but his arms don't fully listen to him yet. So all Dick's fingers only make it as far as Jason's neck and slide down his chest from there. Jason grasps Dick's hand with his own and kisses the knuckles.

"I thought for sure that whatever we had had by that point would be over. That you could never want to be together with a disgusting freak like me." Jason presses his forehead against Dick's fingers as if to hide his face from scrutiny. "But you surprised me. Not only did you take my anomaly in stride, you were more enthusiastic about it than I could ever have been. And it got me thinking. What if... what if the only reason you stay with me is because I can give you something others can't?

So when I saw the marks, I thought you'd finally have found someone else who can give you that something just as well. Maybe better."

"Oh, Jason." Dick reaches out again to cup Jason's cheek and pull him down for a kiss.

Jason makes a face into it. "I get insecure, okay?"

Dick inhales. He's not going to sigh, and he's not going to roll his eyes. "I don't know how to tell you that you have nothing to be insecure about. I don't run off because suddenly there's someone else who may be able to scratch a particular itch better than you can. That's not how this works." Dick notices his voice rising in pitch and clears his throat. "It's absurd that you even think that."

"I never said I was rational about this," Jason grumbles against Dick's knuckles.

"To be fair, nothing about us is rational in the first place. There are those who consider us brothers, and you know, that's rarely your first choice of lovers."

" _You_ considered us brothers."

Dick smiles. "Maybe I still do."

"Freak."

Despite the insult, Jason bends down to kiss Dick anyway. And Dick more than happily kisses back. Sometimes it baffles him how close they can be, and how far apart at the same time.

"Are we good?" Dick asks as Jason draws back again.

"Yeah, we're good."

The _'for now'_ is unspoken. It's too much to hope that this was Jason's last moment of doubt. They crop up now and again, at intervals too irregular to predict.

Dick sees this as a personal failure. If he can't make Jason feel loved the way he deserves, what good is he as a boyfriend? If Jason only knew what Dick feels for him, he'd never be insecure again. But until Dick figures out how to project his feelings like a Care Bear Stare, he'll just have to make to do with what he has and be patient with Jason's bouts of self-doubt.

Because Jason is a smart kid. He'll learn eventually how much he means to Dick.

**Author's Note:**

> Title from "One Single Second" by Set It Off. Trust me to forget the actual wording of the line I wanted to use while posting at 3 in the morning.


End file.
